Tuesday, November 6, 2012

REVIEW: Mora "Black Carbon" Bushcraft Knife

Mora's
"Black Carbon" Bushcraft Knife follows the summer release of their new
line of "heavy duty" knives, including the popular "Robust Knife". The
Black Carbon is essentially aMora Bushcraft Forceknife,
but with a thicker 1/8" thick carbon steel blade, a squared-off spine
(for striking firesteels and scraping tinder), and a blackTungsten DLC Coatingfor rust resistance.

When
I heard that Mora was releasing the Black Carbon, I was excited to say
the least, since it finally has the features I've been longing for. I'd
like to say a special thanks to Ben's Backwoods for getting this knife
out to us so quickly!

When
I first picked up the Black Carbon, I could feel the extra heft
compared to any Mora I've used in the past. On a digital scale, the
Black Carbon weighs a half an ounce more than the stainless Bushcraft Survival and
Force knives, coming in at 4.3 ounces (without the sheath), compared to
3.7 ounces for the Bushcraft Survival.

One surprise was that the Black Carbon has a longer blade than the aforementioned knives, coming in
at 4.35" vs 4.25" for the Force and Bushcraft Survival knives.

The Black Carbon comes with a standard Mora Bushcraft sheath, which has a
removable belt loop that also swivels in place. Although it's not
fancy, it is functional, tough yet lightweight, and does a good job of
holding the knife safely and securely.

(click to enlarge)

The Black Carbon also fits directly into the Mora Bushcraft Survival Sheath:

FIELD REVIEW

Much has already been written about the
Bushcraft Force knife, which the Black Carbon is based on, so I wanted
to focus on the four things that I thought were most important: 1) Does
the Black Carbon baton any better than the Force knife? 2) How will the
DLC Coating hold up under this batoning? 3) Now that the blade is
thicker, will it still perform fine carving tasks as well as the thinner
blades? 4) How well does the squared-off spine work when striking a
firesteel?

Batoning a small Aspen log

For the baton test, I found a small, dead
Aspen tree that was lying on the ground around my base camp and sawed
off a section with my trusty Bahco Laplander saw:

(click to enlarge)

Using a baton made from a pitch-laden pine branch, the log was then batoned into smaller pieces for the feather-stick and firesteel test:

(click to enlarge)

Success!

I felt that the Black Carbon's thicker, longer blade made
batoning slightly easier than other Moras I've used in the past.

Carving a Featherstick

The Black Carbon performed excellently in the
featherstick test. It doesn't carve with the absolute perfection of a
thin-bladed Mora Clipper, but this slight deficiency is really only
noticeable when you do a side-by side comparison of the two.

(click to enlarge)

Firesteel test

The
squared off spine on the Black Carbon was a joy to use when striking a firesteel, and easily
ignited the Aspen wood featherstick from the previous test with just a
few strikes:

(click to enlarge)

DLC Coating- How did it hold up?

I
was only able to baton one log and carve a few feathersticks before
posting this review, but the DLC Coating on this knife looks very
promising. Here's how the knife looked after the tests:

With it's thicker, slightly longer blade, the Black Carbon just might be
the ticket for those who love Mora knives, but are worried about using a
thinner version for heavy duty wilderness tasks. No, it's not a 1/4
thick "sharpened prybar," but I highly doubt anyone would break one
unless they were outright abusing it.

Another advantage of the high carbon steel construction of the Black Carbon is the ability to ignite char-tinder by striking its spine against Flint or Quartz to produce sparks. Here's a great video on how to do this by IA Woodsman.

One slight negative is that there is a small degredation in cutting performance compared to
thinner Moras like the Clippers, but it's barely noticeable unless you
do a side by side comparison of the two. The Black Carbon is still an excellent wood carving tool compared to most knives.

I was impressed with the DLC coating. Even though I didn't have as
much field time with the Black Carbon as I normally do with other knife
reviews, it appeared to hold up as well or better than, the coatings on
other knives I've used over the years. After I spend more time in the
field with the Black Carbon, I'll post an update on how it holds
up under long term field use.

This knife looks to be an excellent all-around bush knife, and just as
the FireKnife was a hit for Mora, I predict the same for the Black
Carbon.

Jason Schwartz is the founder and senior editor of Rocky Mountain Bushcraft. He is a former Red Cross certified Wilderness & Remote First Aid Instructor, and has taught bushcraft and wilderness survival techniques to the Boy Scouts of America, interned with the US Forest Service, and studied wilderness survival, forestry and wildland firefighting at Colorado Mountain College in Leadville, Colorado. Jason has also written for magazines such as The New Pioneer and Backpacker, including writing the "Tinder Finder" portion of Backpacker's "Complete Guide to Fire," which won a 2015 National Magazine Award (NMA). Email him at rockymountainbushcraft @ hotmail.com (without spaces)

10 comments:

I'm curious about how this knife will sharpen. Is the coating on the bevel? Diamond-Like Carbon coatings are very, very wear resistant and slippery, and sharpening through it to get to the steel beneath would likely require a diamond stone and lots of time. Along those lines, I wouldn't count on striking a spark with the spine - definitely try it before assuming it will work in a crisis.

Literate Viewer, good point about trying this knife on some Flint/Quartz first before relying on it, and I would argue to do this with any piece of critical gear as well. As for sharpening, I had no problem sharpening it for the test.

Although I love the "cool" factor of the knife, I wanted to save the extra twenty dollars and went with the robust MG. I was wondering, comparing the Black Carbon and the robust MG, which would you say performs better?

Looks like a brilliant knife, as a Swede myself i just can't wait to get my hands on one! Have you tried to mount it on your backpack? It would be interesting to see how it would fit onto a MOLLE-system, perhaps something to look into if you would be doing a long-term review sometime :-)

Several readers emailed me and asked if the back of the Black Carbon blade could create sparks while striking flint or quartz. I'm to report that yes, it actually works quite well. The problem is that it will damage the squared spine, which will obviously affect its ability to strike a firesteel or scrape tinder. However, it is good to know that this can be done in a survival situation.

I'm curious about how this knife will sharpen. Is the coating on the bevel? Diamond-Like Carbon coatings are very, very wear resistant and slippery, and sharpening through it to get to the steel beneath would likely require a diamond stone and lots of time. Along those lines, I wouldn't count on striking a spark with the spine - definitely try it before assuming it will work in a crisis.